Brief and to the point. Left Wanaka later than planned. Stopped at a pharmacy to pick up flu medication. Stopped at Puzzle World just outside of town. Then on to Queenstown for just a brief tour and visit with a friend of Marcos (we’ll be back in Queenstown for New Year’s). Leave Queenstown early afternoon for Te Anau, our base camp before our onward march to Milford Sound. The drive from Qtown to Te Anau reminded me of the landscape around Eugene along the I-5 corridor (dry hay fields surrounded by rolling hills). Te Anau is on a lake of the same name, which surprise, surprise was similar to Lake Wanaka. At the hostel kitchen we finally prepared the meal that we had purchased the ingredients for way back in Nelson (we’re starting to make a ... read more

Work has been keeping me very busy so I’ll keep this pretty simple. We did lots of driving and the stomach flu that a couple of us picked up from the Chinese restaurant (remember the woman dressed in the Pokemon shirt and was sneezing in the kitchen) set in. Some of us toured a brewery in Greymouth while the others explored the biggest city on the west coast (but it can’t be any bigger than Astoria, OR a town it shares many similarities with). We just had to stop at The Warehouse (Wal-Mart equivalent) to satisfy a shopping urge (the car continues to fill up with purchases). We left around noon or 12:30 heading south towards Fox Glacier. We stopped briefly in Hokitika the jade (greenstone) capital of New Zealand. Made a stomach flu stop in ... read more

From Picton we took the Queen Charlotte drive towards Nelson. The winding narrow road followed the blue water bays and coves of the sound. The coastal road eventually gave way to a wide open valley fields and the forested lowland of rolling hills. In all it was a two or so hour drive to Nelson, our base of operation for the Christmas shuttered period. Nelson, a highly touristed town reportedly has the most days of sunshine in NZ. We were not disappointed during our two days in town…. Perfect weather! We arrived the day before Christmas and thought that a $5 secrete Santa shopping expedition in town would be good fun. We went our separate ways and met back up later that afternoon. For wrapping paper I was able to convince the Katmandu sales woman to ... read more

Am I crazy or what? First a Mo now a Marathon (Rotorua). I’ve been going to the gym now for seven weeks, six times a week running on the treadmill / elliptical machine for 40 to 60 minutes a day. I’ve had a desire to run a marathon for a couple of years but on Sunday I fell off the fence and found myself in the mind set of a long distance runner. I officially started my training today (Monday) by this weekend I will have my training / diet schedule plan complete and enacted. I have just over five months to prepare, am I crazy or what? Anyone have suggestions for preparing for the “wall”? Elysa (see Three Crazy Nights) passes through Auckland today on her way to Australia. We headed out to the ... read more

I stumbled upon the Christmas parade in Auckland today. The weather was too hot to hear jiggle bells and other Christmas tunes, it’s just not right. Santa was in shorts, shades and jandals (sandals). Send some snow my way if you can.... read more